Tyco Case Ready For Jury

Money that two former Tyco International executives obtained without any record of board authorization was taken wrongfully, "plainly and simply," a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday at the men's trial.

L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark H. Swartz stole millions by abusing Tyco executive programs, and then made sure that favored colleagues would share in the bounty to cover their own tracks, Assistant District Attorney Marc Scholl said.

"These thefts were wiped off Tyco's books," Scholl said in the second day of closing arguments by the prosecution.

Kozlowski, Tyco's former chief executive officer, and Swartz, the former chief financial officer, are accused of looting Tyco of $600 million to finance baronial lifestyles and fund pet investments.

Defense lawyers say many of the bonuses and forgiven loans were approved by the board of directors' compensation committee in informal, unrecorded sessions. Swartz testified that many meetings had been held without records being kept.

But Scholl said, "The only voice claiming these were authorized bonuses is the voice of Mark Swartz."

The prosecutor also said that Tyco's accounting ledgers prove that Kozlowski and Swartz stole from the company. "The ledgers show that this is not merely a theft, but a planned theft by agreement," Scholl said.

Kozlowski, 57, and Swartz, 43, are accused of stealing $170 million by taking unauthorized bonuses and by abusing company loan programs. They allegedly netted an additional $430 million by manipulating Tyco stock prices from 1995 through 2002.

The judge is expected to charge the jury on Thursday.

CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen notes that "the key to the defense, for both men, is to try to convince jurors that the lavish spending and all that was known to and approved by the Board. If the jury believes that to be the case, it would be nearly impossible for the panel to find that the defendants had any criminal intent - and that might mean acquittal on most of the charges."

"After six long months of trial," adds Cohen, "jurors have a fairly stark choice to make about whether all this lavish spending amounts to a crime."

Kozlowski and Swartz face a total of 32 counts of grand larceny, falsifying business records and violating state business laws. The grand larceny charge — called a mega-larceny under state law since it alleges theft of more than $1 million — is punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

Tyco, which has about 270,000 employees and $36 billion in annual revenue, makes electronics and medical supplies and owns the ADT home security business. Nominally based in Bermuda, its operations headquarters is in West Windsor, N.J.